Tired and crazy
by Flutter-Pony
Summary: A fluffy Wemma one shot. As always, feedback is appreciated and reviews are rad.
1. Chapter 1

Will grimaced.

Isabel stumbled in her new red shoes that were too big. She was holding the bouquet up side down and the pink daisy petals were falling, bruised and abandoned to the ground.

"Don't worry about it. They have people to clean that up" Beiste reassured, swatting his shoulder.

Thank God for Shannon who turned up on his doorstep three days ago with a pink bear for Issie and a nervous hug. She'd scrambled eggs and made Will eat them. She'd read 'Goodnight Moon' to Issie every night. She told Will when to go to the hospital and wait for news and when to come home, pretend everything was fine sing songs to the four year old with the cheeky dimples that would always make him laugh.

"I see!" the child pointed, dropping Beiste's hand and running into the room.

Will sighed and swallowed.

"I'll wait out here," Beiste said, taking a seat on the sofa and staring through the glass wall. "Everything is fine Schuester" she grinned with a nod.

Will could only bring himself to stand in the doorway and watch with watery eyes.

"Mommy, you slept for too long!" chided their child with one palm flat on her mother's shoulder and a fist toying in her own long strawberry lochs. The daisy's went unnoticed at the foot of the bed.

Emma smiled and Will's whole body was shaking. He was so close to losing her.

"You know what though? I dreamt about you and Daddy the whole time" she moved her arm and let her hand flutter over her daughter cheek, marvelling at the little face that looked more like Will everyday.

"For three whole days?"

"Yes, Bug. The whole time" Emma sighed with exhaustion. Her whole body alternated between aching and searing pain since she woke up an hour ago and screamed for the nurses to call her family.

"Are you all better?" Issie turned her head to the side and Emma wondered how she got that Virginia twang in her accent.

With a prolonged blink she spoke through tears she didn't know were in her.

"Well I still have some boo-boos-"

"From where the car was naughty?"

"Uh-ha. My neck is a little sore and the nice doctors have to put some bits of metal in my leg…" The child was wide eyed, taking in every foreign feature. The neck brace, the bandages, the tubes that snuck around corners until you couldn't see where they ended up.

"I'm very happy you're awake again Mommy" Issie whispered, scuffing her shoes absently. "Daddy has been sad and The Beiste made up a new game and I get the be the Princess and she is the donkey".

At the innocent mention she let herself look at him. Her brave, handsome husband who was trying to shrink into the doorframe. His mouth hung open, his eyes were heavy.

It hurt to look at him.

When he spoke it sounded like gravel.

"Hey Bug why don't you go and show The Beiste how you can count the coins for the vending machine?"

Issie's features lit up and she darted towards the door, leaving Emma amazed at her speed.

"I'm going to find a cookie for you out of the machine!"

"Oh yeah?" he mused putting a fistful of coins clumsily in her coat pocket and chuckling a little at her newfound pride. "If you find a chocolate chip one we can go halfsies"

"Deal!" she said with an affirmative nod. They listened as tiny, awkward footsteps tottled along the corridor and Beiste's deep and endearing tone faded and then they were alone.

Emma swallowed and it hurt and he could tell and it made him sick.

She motioned for him to come closer with her free arm and cleared her throat. He ignored the cracked vinyl in the chair and sat, scooting closer to her.

She grabbed his hand, it was freezing.

"… It's okay" she whispered, doing her best to look him in the eye. It was difficult with the brace on when he kept looking down.

"….Will… everything's fine. I'm fine…" she soothed he continued to cling to her hand.

"…Sorry…" he choked. "It's just…I thought you were-"

"But I'm not" she croaked and he let out a violent sob that he'd held in since Wednesday night when the police called and said there was an accident.

"I couldn't breathe!" he was becoming hysterical. "I can't do it without you!"

"Come here…" she lamented, lifting her arm and making a pocket on the blanket to rest his head.

"No, I'll break something" he said between shaky breaths.

"You won't. Will. Please" she sounded strong and it comforted him. He lay his head next to her check and she gently raked fingers through his curls and whispered soothing, nonsensical noises.

Issie spilt chip crumbs over the sofa, her father's cookie long forgotten in the machine. She looked at her parents through the glass, clinging to each other with their eyes closed.

"I think we should wake them up. It's almost my bed time" she said matter-of-factly to Beiste who dwarfed her on the next cushion.

"I don't think they're asleep. Look, they're moving" And they were. Emma glided her hand slowly over Will's cheek and neck and then moved back to his hair. "They're just having a rest, Little Schue" she smiled kindly and the perplexed, doe eyed child.

"Why are they tired?"

"Well… your Mom and Dad worry about each other. A lot! And sometimes it makes them tired and crazy"

"Why?" Issie asked.

"Because they love each other very much" Beiste sipped her almost cold coffee before continuing. "You know, a long time ago before you were even born, your Mom and Dad got so tired and confused that they pretended not to love each other. And then one day your Mommy stormed into the special grown ups room at the high school and she said that she had had enough and that she really loved your Daddy very much…"

"…and then what happened?" Issie was clearly entertained, chips scattered on the floor beneath her.

"…Well, then they were both very happy and one day they came to school extra happy and do you know why?"

"Why?" her big eyes lit up.

"Because they were going to have a little baby girl and call her Isabel and she was going to be the most perfect Little Schue in the whole world!"

"And then did they get tired and crazy again?"

"Oh yeah! You're Daddy went nuts fussing over your Mommy…."

"…Hey look! They are sleeping!" Will and Emma were still, their chest rising and falling in tandem.

"We should get you home to bed"

"Will you tell me that story again?"

"Sure thing Little Schue". Hand in hand, the dwarf and the giant left the grown ups alone to sleep, hoping they wouldn't wake up tired and crazy.


	2. Chapter 2

_Wasn't going to continue this, but it just happened. I'm desperate for new Wemma writing ideas. Does anyone have a prompt I could play with?_

_Thanks for taking the time to read. X. _

Issie's feet got tangled in the ladybug print of her pyjamas. She gripped the plate in her hands tighter, and shuffled awkwardly, with the soft fabric creasing under her feet and in between her toes. At last she made it to side of Mommy and Daddy's big bed, in the almost dark she could see them snoozing like lazy lions in the sun. Mommy's body was straight and Daddy's was all curly beside it.

"Mommy?" she whispered politely, with a grin that she couldn't hold back.

"Bug, it's still night time" her mother winced at the intrusion and then sighed.

"I brought you breakfast", Issie lifted the plate higher as Emma shifted on the mattress, sitting up groggily against the headboard.

She blinked over her daughter, impossibly petite, with strawberry curls that were always falling out of place, not that Isabel ever minded. She was gifted with the same calming smile as her father, with adorable eyes that were both effortlessly carefree and somehow compassionate to a fault.

"Another peanut butter and jelly? I think we'll have to teach you a new recipe," Emma offered, taking the plate gently from the tiny hands and immediately placing it on the nightstand. It wouldn't be edible. The bread was soggy and heavy with fingerprints and purple jelly that was her new favourite. Will had bought it home last week on a special 'PB & J' grocery trip. He did a lot of those.

"Is your leg better today?" Issie asked, because she still believed in miracles. Emma reached out and guided Issie gently onto the bed with practised ease, and let her nestle into that spot, between her mother's arm and hipbone, where it was always perfectly warm.

Emma shook her head and ran her fingers through her daughter's hair, noticing a flick of peanut butter on her brow. Her leg wasn't better today. Three weeks ago Will had driven them home, toying with Emma's fingers and singing along with Issie and the Wiggles. Emma had removed the neck brace seven days later, and now hobbled around the house without her crutches. But her right leg was still painfully stiff and angrily red.

"Not for a little while longer" she murmured in answer, switching on the bedside lamp because dragging carrying herself out of bed would be all too hard. She might be able to stand up right and waddle her way to the window, but not without stirring her husband, who would inevitably insist on doing it for her.

"Is that why Daddy was crying yesterday?" she asked without alarm, studying the scar painted along her Mother's neck.

"What do you mean?" Emma's eyes flickered to Will; blissfully in slumber just inches away.

"In the night, when I saw you dancing-"

"Isabel, you promised you were going to stay in bed, remember?"

"But I like it when you dance" the child defended with a whine.

It wasn't even dancing, what they did. It started years ago, with music in the background, Will would lead and they would hold each other. Emma always thought it would be dancing if she had more rhythm, or if she didn't get so distracted by the warmth of his skin to remember what her feet were doing. When they first started dating, he took her out and led her around the dance floor with a hand on the small of her back. She flushed with painful self-awareness until he whispered in her ear.

"Let's go home", even though it was still officially only his apartment.

Since then, the soft delicate swaying and been theirs. Sometimes in celebration, like the night she accidentally proposed and he deliberately said yes, and sometimes it was a salvation, like when infant Issie had woken them up in the dead of night with her kicking and screaming, Emma would take a deep breath, ignore the baby vomit on her shoulder and move slowly and aimlessly, to the sound of Will's beautiful humming, both exhausted beyond words or music, with the chaos of real life literally scattered at their feet.

"Daddy was tired that's all" Emma tried to dismiss it, but like Will, Issie could read her anxiety and call her bluff. "Let him sleep" Emma warned, when her daughter aimed a cheeky grin at Will, facing away from them and oblivious to their conversation.

"Is Daddy going crazy again?"

"No, Issie, what-"

"I thought I felt a little bug in my bed" Will's voice was groggy and easy as he rolled over to face them, the fabric of the pillowcase indented on his cheek.

"Sorry" mouthed Emma, reaching over to graze over his ear.

He smiled, straightened his back upright and shook his head. "This is my favourite way to start the day. And I can't let you ladies have all the fun without me".

Issie watched as he took her mothers hand and squeezed it just a tiny bit. It was funny sometimes, watching the things they did.

"Issie was worried that you were sad last night, she was spying on us after bedtime" Issie felt her mother's voice vibrating in her ear and didn't know where to look. Even though she'd practised her quiet steps a million times, she'd been caught…. Again.

Daddy's hand grabbed hers and just like with Mommy, he squeezed it. It had magical powers, she felt all better.

"I promise I'm not sad Bug, okay? Sometimes grown ups just need to let all their tears out".

Issie nodded even though she didn't understand.

Will watched her play with the patterns on the linen. She was so much like Emma, the way she held herself, and yet was so much her own person, too clever for her own good.

One day they would tell her. Probably after she would ask, and he would cry then too, because he remembered touching Emma's stomach for the first time and trying to imagine the little future inside.

She was so shy at first, even though they'd been trying for a year, even though she couldn't stop smiling. He'd put his hands on her and she would freeze and bite her lip. He couldn't stop. Will longed to get her home alone, unbutton her cardigan and blouse, lay her down, un hook her bra and feel every change with slow hands and lips. The greedier he got, the more at ease his wife became, until the last months when she slept beside him completely bare. He was such a selfish bastard for keeping her up at night with intrusive kisses over her belly button and possessive fingers running down her back. "I love you," she would whisper, each day feeling herself grow heavier with expectation. It was thrilling, primal anticipation.

When Isabel arrived in the same clumsy, beautiful flurry she did everything, he fell in love with them both all over again. Emma became fearless, the way she crossed her legs and the mattress fed their baby, never flinching at the contact.

Will was greedy, he wanted more. But then the car crash happened and all he needed was Emma to get better, to laugh at his jokes, to teach Issie to bake.

Yesterday, while Isabel was playing Xbox with Finn, the Doctor said there would be no more children for them. The damage to Emma's organs would make it too risky. They thanked him, but they wanted to scream. It wasn't fair.

They needed to talk, but by the time Issie was tucked up in bed, all Will had the energy to do was hold her weight and sway carefully around the living room, minding her leg that would recover, and their hearts that might always ache a little.

"Can you please teach me how to dance Daddy?" Issie asked, through a mouthful of bread, the jelly falling down her chin.

"Uh, Okay, but I think Miss Catherine at ballet on Saturday might be better"

"No, like you and Mommy in the living room"

Will felt Emma's eyes on him, saw her turn her head, like she did when she was admiring Isabel, or him, or both.

"Of course bug, we've been waiting to teach you forever, since before you were even born".


	3. Chapter 3

"There you go little Schue, you're good as new".

The Beiste's hands were so warm and big against Issie's little legs. Issie thought she might like hands like that when she grew up, because they were so good at putting on band-aids. There were 5 on her knee today, four Dora the Explorer and one blue one that was extra special from Uncle Steven's emergency box. He wouldn't mind if Issie took one because he could get plenty more out of the ambulance where he worked.

"Maybe when I'm a flower girl Mommy and Daddy can buy me some white band aids to match my Princess dress" the child wondered out loud, while the Beiste scrunched the wrappings in her massive fist and floated them to the trashcan with perfect aim.

"Maybe, but maybe if you keep doing your stretches you'll get big and strong and by the time Uncle Steven and I get married you won't have any booboos… and then you won't need band aids" Shannon offered with a gentle smile.

The little girl bit her lip, thinking hard. She couldn't imagine not wearing band-aids. Most of the time they were on her knee, because sometimes her foot forgot to move at the right time. She never cried though. Daddy said it was because she was so brave and Mommy made sure there was all kinds of bandages and patches at home in all different colours, because Issie was learning how to colour co-ordinate. But having no booboos might be nice too, especially if she was going to wear the sparkly shoes that The Beiste had picked out.

"Okay then. Will you stretch with me?" Shannon laughed. The child's enthusiasm was adorable and identical to her father's, effortless. She pulled Issie gently off the couch and hand in hand they tottled to the Ipod, where no doubt Issie would insist on Lady Gaga.

"Oh, we're just in time for your dance party!", they heard Emma jingle into the room with the keys in her hand, gliding some grocery bags onto the counter. They turned their heads and saw Will usher in behind her, waving with one hand and guiding another around his wife as they walked closer.

The grown ups were quiet for a little bit then. Issie watched Mommy nod at the Beiste and then make a smile but the kind of smile where you couldn't see teeth and then she sat down on the sofa next to Daddy and the Beiste sat down too, forgetting all about the stretches.

"Did you fall over again Bug?", Daddy asked her when the talking started again. "Can I see?".

Issie's leg was a little sore, but not as sore as Mommy's used to be, so she stepped over to her parents and watched Mommy's head rest on Daddy's shoulder.

"Did you say thank you to Shannon for looking after you today?"

"Thanks!" she smirked at her friend.

"Yeah, thanks Shannon. We owe you big time", Will added.

When they made the appointment a week ago, they were going to take Issie along. She had known Dr Francis from the moment of her first breath, when she was measured and tested and incubated. She liked the box of toys in the corner of the office and especially the lollipops she handed out at the end.

But Emma had woken in a cold sweat on Tuesday. And Will made the mistake of Googling their situation at 5 am on Wednesday morning. And all Thursday they were painfully anxious. Over dinner Issie asked why they were crazy this time.

"Isabel. You know that's not a nice word" Will had snapped.

"But nobody is making noise. That means you're crazy!"

"We're just very busy Isabel, and it's almost bed time-"

"But why-"

"Your mother and I aren't crazy!" he'd almost yelled and then spent yet another sleepless night terrified of what was to come.

"Will?" Emma had whispered just after dawn.

"Hmmm"

"No matter what happens today, you're my hero… and Issie's". She had kissed his nose and joined him in gazing at the ceiling. The day ahead looked torturous. They couldn't take Issie. They could barely bring themselves to show up.

Isabel leaned on to the sofa smiling and fiddling with the tasselled cushion. She'd helped pick out Mommy's green dress today. She looked beautiful too, Daddy said the she was the prettiest Mommy in the world, and he really meant it because he said it in his whisper voice.

"Bug, we need to talk to you about something very important. You'll need your special listening ears on" Emma explained.

Isabel bit her lip yet again, but kept leaning.

"Remember how we talked about making babies?" Emma sure did.

Isabel nodded, recounting the pictures in the special book.

"Well, we went to see Dr Francis today and she told us that there is a baby in my tummy".

It wasn't exactly true. They knew they were pregnant two weeks ago when Will slammed a pregnancy test down on the faculty lounge table and demanded Emma use it. Denial would get them nowhere.

"Mr. and Mrs. Schuester, you have to understand, this pregnancy - while a minor miracle given the circumstances, is not going to be easy" the doctor had said, as if they didn't already have that sinking feeling in their stomachs.

Emma had gripped Will's hand and sighed before speaking. "We didn't mean for this to happen. I mean… we were careful after the accident… but now… we can't not have this baby".

The doctor clasped her hands together and put them in her lap. "Alright Emma, we're going to wrap you in cotton wool, so to speak. I want to see you every week and put me on your speed dial. If you so much as sneeze, I need to be the first to know. We can't take any chances, especially after what happened with Isabel".

Will shifted in his seat when she said that. He'd heard it before and it made him uneasy. 'What happened with Isabel', as if she weren't the most precious little person the world had ever known. He wanted to tell them what really happened. That Emma had giggled when her water broke at 2.30 in the afternoon and insisted they stop for cookies on the way to the hospital, '_I know you Will, you're going to need the sugar to stay focused'_. That things when things got complicated he kissed Emma's forehead and saw the fiercest, most selfless determination on her face. He needed them to know that when Issie finally arrived he couldn't bare to watch them stick needles in her tiny feet. That when they said that the labour had caused some damage, he didn't believe them because that baby had her mother's eyes, something he had secretly been wishing for.

Cerebral Palsy they said. Probably mild, but the baby will need some therapy. She would be uncoordinated, she would make a lot of mistakes and she would get hurt.

What really happened with Issie is that she dealt with it all with her Mother's mighty resolve. That she was growing into a fascinating child he couldn't wait to get to know better. That every grazed knee and bruise broke his heart but every time he watched her fall asleep with her head in the crook of Emma's neck, he felt like flying.

"Will we get to go to the hospital again?" Issie asked wonderously, her tired arm pulled into her chest while the other hand ran over Emma's upper leg absently.

"Uh-huh. We're all going to be spending a long time at the hospital and when the little baby comes, he or she might stay there for a little while too."

"Because of booboos?"

Emma nodded and glanced at Will. They had no idea how to explain to their child that the future was scary and unknown when they'd spent her whole life showing her the world was safe.

"Don't be sad Mommy"

"I'm not Bug…" but she was.

"Soon I'm going to be big and strong like the Beiste and I won't need my band aids anymore…. And then when I get very big I'll be so good at patching up booboos with my big hands that I can fix the baby" her eyes were so wide when she spoke and her little voice grew louder.

Emma felt Will's grip on her hand tighten but kept her eyes on the four year old with uneven piggy tails that was her hero.

They would get through this somehow, if not with a few booboos.


End file.
